Cristopher Sánchez endures the worst start of his career in bid to be All-Star starter

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Trea Turner crossed over second base, took a throw from Bryson Stott, and sidearmed the ball to first.

Double play, right?

More like double trouble.

Turner uncorked a sinker in the dirt that skipped by diving first baseman Bryce Harper. A run scored. An avalanche followed. Rather than escaping the first inning here Monday, Cristopher Sánchez got blitzed for six runs, the start of a 15-1 Phillies trouncing by the bottom-dwelling Royals.

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper is ‘grateful’ to be MLB commissioner’s All-Star pick. He’s also earned it.

“That’s a play you’ve got to make,” Turner said. “Who knows how that game ends up if [Sánchez] gets out of there clean and then gets on a roll?”

Who knows? Because with a chance to deliver a series win for the Phillies and a closing argument to be the National League’s starting pitcher next week in the All-Star Game, Sánchez endured the worst start of his career.

The ugly numbers:

“It was not good,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “I mean, it was crap what I did today.”

Sánchez was repeatedly over the middle of the plate with his signature changeup. His sinker lacked its peak zip. Each of the homers — Luke Maile’s three-run shot in the first inning and solos by Salvador Perez and Lane Thomas — came on changeups.

A half-dozen Royals hits against Sánchez were scorched at 100 mph or faster off the bat. Sánchez’s ERA climbed from 2.00, second-best in the NL, to 2.62, seventh in the league.

Turner’s error absolved none of that.

But it did change the game.

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“Yeah, absolutely,” Turner said. “They put some good swings on the ball today. But [Sánchez] has thrown the ball so great this whole year. He could easily put up five, six, seven scoreless, and we could’ve been in it.”

Turner said he “rushed it a little bit” after taking the throw from Stott. It was his 12th error of the season, tied for the third-most among shortstops behind the Nationals’ CJ Abrams and the Angels’ Zach Neto (14 apiece).

Errors aren’t always the truest measure of defense, but modern metrics haven’t favored Turner either. Entering play Monday, he was tied for 32nd among shortstops in outs above average (minus-6) and ranked last in defensive runs saved (minus-8).

The Phillies haven’t considered moving Turner away from shortstop, especially after last year, when he had one of his best defensive seasons. But given his downturn this season, the questions will be renewed.

“I don’t think this year’s been nearly as good as last,” Turner said. “I feel like just a little sped up. I feel like the game slowed down quite a bit last year. It’s still in there. I feel like I can do it.”

Don Mattingly didn’t want to get into Turner specifically. But he made clear that the Phillies must convert more balls in play into outs. By most metrics, and through the old-fashioned eye test, they rank among the worst defensive teams in the sport.

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“Let’s just say in general, I think defense is always a concern,” Mattingly said. “You want to limit outs. You never know when one out turns into runs at any point in the game.”

Sánchez’s first inning was proof of concept. Instead of being back in the dugout after a scoreless inning, he gave up four consecutive hits: RBI singles from Nick Loftin and Starling Marte, an infield single by Tyler Tolbert, and Maile’s homer, which sent center fielder Derek Hill crashing into the wall.

And with that, the rout was on.

Kyle Schwarber got ejected by plate umpire Alan Porter after striking out in the sixth inning. Third-string catcher Garrett Stubbs pitched the eighth — and gave up the last two runs and four hits in the Royals’ 22-hit barrage. Mattingly emptied the bench in the middle innings, spring training-style.

And the Phillies dropped the series to the Royals, who have the second-worst record in a bad American League. They’ve lost three of the last four games and five out of nine, with six games left before the All-Star break.

Sánchez will get one more start, Saturday in Detroit, to stake his claim as the first Phillies pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Roy Halladay in 2011.

In the meantime, the Phillies will dive into whether the start against the Royals was a one-off or a reason for concern about the ace lefty, who has worked the second-most innings (120⅓) of any pitcher in the majors.

Mattingly noted that Sánchez struggled in three recent road starts in Milwaukee, Washington, and now, Kansas City. Maybe that’s a coincidence. He has always pitched better at home.

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“You are looking like, is he getting ahead in the count, is he getting the ball where he wants to on the plate, things like that,” Mattingly said. “That’s what you look at. You’re looking at health. [Is he] tired even? We’ve asked a lot of him. He’s thrown a lot of innings.”

Sánchez insists everything’s fine. And if Turner makes a better throw to first base, who knows?

“I feel great,” Sánchez said. “That’s why I was a little surprised to have such an outing today. Because physically I feel really good.”

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Dan Baker has been the Phillies' public-address announcer for 54 seasons, the longest active run and third-longest all-time. And on July 14, he will become the first PA announcer to work three All-Star games. He sat down with "Phillies Extra" to discuss his memories from 1976 and 1996 at Veterans Stadium, his favorite names to announce, and more. Watch here.

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